The way a society treats its most vulnerable is, in many ways, a measure of that society. Unfortunately, this makes Australia, and particularly its Federal and State governments, very uncaring indeed. Our supposedly generous welfare system is failing the disabled, the mentally ill and the elderly ... and what makes matters worse, it's failing them because of bureaucratic bickering between the Federal and State Governments. A few weeks ago, a rally for the disabled, which went almost unnoticed by the media, the community and the politicians, was aimed at correcting this problem ...the protestors appealing for the Federal Government to fund their share of a long-overdue award wage increase for the carers -- a small wage increase. The carers, the disabled and their families were among the protestors. One of them, Barbara Delcasse, said at the rally outside John Howard's office in Sydney: "Shame on you, Mr Howard. All we need is seventy million dollars. It is a drop in the huge ocean of funding in this Budget, but you are refusing to give us anything at all. That means that services that are funded by the Commonwealth, or partly funded, will be cut across the State." One of the parents at the rally, Bernadette Maloney, had this to say of the politicians: "It's a problem that they're not interested in solving because we're such a small voting minority. It makes me very bitter, it makes me lose complete faith in the government and the politicians. Everybody in families that have a disability, a child with a disability, everybody will suffer. All their siblings, their parents, they'll all suffer." But their protest fell on deaf ears. The Federal Government has passed the buck, but not the bucks, to the State, ignoring the pleas of those who will be most affected by the shortfall in funds. The chairman of Windgap, a non-government service provider based in southeast Sydney, Chris Brown, said the goverments' conduct was shameful: "We are delivering services. We have dedicated employees who have been very, very poorly paid for ten years. The merit and justice of their award claim and wage increase cannot be denied. The independent arbiter has spoken. The Industrial Commission has said increase the wage, so their wage has been increased on average from $22,000 to $25,000 a year. These are the people working on the coalface, helping people with profound, severe physical and intellectual disabilities in our community." The funding arrangements for some disability services date back to 1992 when the State and Federal governments agreed to fund jointly non-government disability institutions through the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement or CSDA. The dispute started last November when the Industrial Commission increased the NSW Social and Community Services Award (SACS) by 6.5 per cent. Most workers in disability services are covered by this award, but even with this rise they are still among the lowest paid workers in Australia. It all boils down to who is going to pay for the award increase -- the State or the Commonwealth? Caught in the middle are the intellectually and physically disabled as well as the organisations that care for them -- organisations that have very tight budgets. These carer groups accuse the governments of political grandstanding -- of playing a game of political state of origin at the cost of people's livelihoods and lives. The Family and Community Services Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, says the previous Labor government agreed to account for cost increases under indexation: "The states agreed with that," says Vanstone, "and it's been operating quite effectively ... The New South Wales Government has ... been trying to stir up the sector and say look we haven't got any more money when you know and I know and everyone in New South Wales knows they have got hundreds of millions of dollars there ready to spend." The NSW Premier, Bob Carr, withdrew from an interview with Sunday, claiming in a statement that "negotiations with the Federal Government are at a sensitive stage." He claims the increase should be jointly funded, saying that NSW had agreed "to fund our share of the SACS award increases." The Prime Minister's Office told Sunday that there had been no negotiations between the Federal Government and the Carr Government over a disability services review. No matter who is to blame, the services are in danger. One organisation that sees its operations threatened is Windgap, which provides housing, day care and employment for severely disabled people. Its chairman, Chris Brown, says: "Organisations like Windgap now do all the hard yakka and the deal is the government gives us the money to do the work. The government is saying now, you continue to do the work and work out how you are going to get the money -- run chocolate wheels and do things like that. Well, we can't do that." The Federal Government has been criticised in many quarters, but one unlikely critic has emerged -- the usually staunch Howard supporter, Sydney talkback radio host, Alan Jones -- who has come out strongly against Canberra. In an editorial on the "Today Show," Jones said: "Here is real disadvantage, which by June, will become a public disgrace unless the Federal Government or Peter Costello come to the party. Not much of a party for the disabled. But what's new?" And in a "Today" editorial only last week, Jones attacked the Family and Community Services Minister: "It is a matter of regret that in Senator Amanda Vanstone, the minister concerned, we have someone who seems to be utterly ill-equipped to deal with this most sensitive area. Not only does she plainly not know the nature of the problem, but her blunt bully-boy tactics inspire further fear in the vulnerable people her Department is meant to assist. Frail, vulnerable aged and disabled people are utterly traumatised as Senator Vanstone goes on a wild and unsubstantiated attempt to blame everyone else for the problems of the funding of the disabled." As always in situations like this, it's the vulnerable people who suffer ... people like Elaine Hanlon and her 31-year-old daughter Donna, who has Down's Syndrome. Donna can be quite independent, but without constant help, she can't dress herself, cook a meal, read a sign or even cross the road by herself. For the past 13 years, the disability service, Warrah, based on the outskirts of Sydney, has provided Donna with daytime activities and a group home with 24-hour supervision by carers. And that home is under threat. Elaine Hanlon explains: "The problems we're having now with funding for extra wages from the Industrial Commission, if those wages are not met, then yes, it will close." If Donna is forced out of her home, she will have to go back to live with her newly retired parents, who would struggle to cope with her need for full-time supervision. Elaine Hanlon comments: "It's very traumatic because ... a lot of parents can't look after their sons or daughters ... their lives are just turned upside down." So who is the victim? "The disabled, they're the ham in the sandwich, they're in the middle of a fight between the Federal and State Governments. Neither government is prepared to give in to pay this money, and while they wrangle and stonewall one another, the disabled people are suffering." The families of the disabled say the politicians do not understand how difficult it is to be a professional carer. Frank Kiernan has a brother who is in a Windgap group home: "I'd like the pollies to come in here, even just for a half a day, even an hour and just to follow through an exercise of a carer, the time they take over early in the morning, or even the night shift. And just see what's involved. They must have people who are professional carers for these poor individuals who can't look after themselves." Caroline Newton is a professional carer: "We have ... a lot of messy bathroom situations, a lot of messy kitchen situations. We're like their family ... they see us every day, they rely on us, they need us and it is a very family environment." Ironically, both Federal and State governments reap the benefit from the many unpaid volunteers who give valuable time and expertise to organisations like Warrah and Windgap. Chris Brown of Windgap says even this could stop: "Our board is entirely volunteer and we have lots of volunteer workers in our services. Parents, brothers and sisters work their backsides off in our services. If both governments continue on the path they have up to now, which is that there's no more, what happens? Inevitably we would have to reduce some services, no question about that." The carers at Windgap's vocational or business services, what used to be known as sheltered workshops, also come under the SACS award. These workshops are also at risk. But the Commonwealth's argument that the funding standoff is all the states' responsibility comes unstuck in this instance, because disability employment services are totally funded by the Federal Government. But it has yet to give a commitment to provide funding to keep these services going. When Helen Dalley asked Senator Vanstone whether the Government would come to the party to help those in the disability services in whatever they needed, the Minister replied: "What I'm saying to you is we are, we will not walk away from our responsibility for employment services. We're not trying to palm that off on anybody else, that is our responsibility." Even respite care is under threat. Nine-year-old Charlie Armstrong has Angelman Syndrome, and lives at home with his parents and his brother and sister. One of the symptoms of the syndrome is that his idea of entertainment or stimulation is to make loud noises and push things so they'll fall over, bang things together and put them in his mouth. Life with Charlie is fulfilling but very difficult for the family. Although he attends a special school during the week, the rest of the week he's cared for at home. For the last two years, his mother Bernadette and the rest of the family have had the welcome opportunity of five hours a week of respite care. On most Saturday mornings, Charlie is taken out by community workers. That respite care -- provided by Rozelle Community Centre in Sydney -- is now threatened, due to the funding shortfall. Bernadette Armstrong, like so many other parents caught in this bureaucratic row, finds the whole thing bewildering: "As much as we love Charlie, he is a constant pressure. If respite like that isn't provided, there will be, I can tell you now, there will be a lot of children just ending up on the doorsteps of hospitals. There will be families that just won't be able to cope. And I don't think people realise that. I don't think even the government realises what's at stake." June 2, 2002 Reporter : Helen Dalley Producer : Paul Steindl Source http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/..article_1066.asp ###